Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston has announced that late fees and interest charges on businesses' annual franchise taxes will be waived until July 15th. The filing deadline for annual franchise taxes is May 1st. Typically, companies filing after the deadline are charged a $25 late fee plus 0.000274% interest per day the payment is delinquent. These penalties will be waived for those who file between May 2nd and July 15th. This only applies to the 2020 franchise tax reporting year.
Secretary Thurston said, "The May 1st deadline is set by state law, however, we thought this would be one way to help companies who may need a little extra time to get their tax payments in order. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having a serious impact on our business community and we want to help them in any way that we can."
The Secretary continues to work closely with all stakeholders and coordinated these efforts with those of the Governor’s Office and the Department of Finance and Administration.
Arkansas franchise taxes can be filed conveniently online at https://www.ark.org/sos/franchise/index.php.